I've been a very good girl, pacing, not discussing the books while you read. In the meantime, I read the House of Night series (4th book is being released next week). The pacing is very similar to the Mortal Instruments series. A little more drama, more mistakes on the part of the lead character. Fast reads. Kinda addictive.

Nima - a my 'adopted' sister really liked the House of Night series and will loan it to me when her Aunt returns it to her. I think I'll check it out.

I finished part 1 of Ashes. So far so good... And Nima, you have been FABULOUS - course I think the floor is about to wear out from all the pacing. Goodness, we had to pace for Hostage, then our discussion on it, now Ashes, and the BDB Compendium is coming in less than a month....ACK!!! Are we reading or waiting?

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I had a friend from my college's book club book-swap me both books a while back but due to some rather erm... personal embarassing interactions with the author at the now infamous *snort* Nimbus 2003 gathering here in Orlando, I hadn't been too quick to read them. However my newly dumped status and a lack of things to read, cause me to cracked open City Of Bones last night and I read the first 5 chapters. I'll try hard not to read back though this thread for fear of spoilers, but so far I have a couple of comments and "Do Huh?!"'s, and as a pre-warning, I tend to have a rather sick sense of humor:

1. The overall pacing seems quite rushed, she spends a lot more time focusing on Simon's character or even the mother's then Clary's2. Am I the only one who read the descirption of the ravener demon and thought of the little blue wormy looking guy from Monsters INC?3. What is up with Isabelle and those Pollyanna looking braids?!?4. Am I missing something here, and yes, I know it's a fantasy novel, but are persian cats normally blue?5. Hodge and that darn bird both = Creepy.

The books are rushed. Sometimes I felt like it was the author's way in her own mind of appealing to the MTV crowd. I think if you can give a teenager enough credit to read a book, you can give them enough credit to handle slower pacing. Heck, how many teens read Sunshine? It took me a long time to "chew" my way through that book even though I liked it. There are some very weird things in Bones, not the least of which is the introduction to not just a few supernatural characters, but all of them. The second book is just as rushed, but a better book. I'm hoping it will keep getting better with the third book in March.

I agree, the story does seemed rushed. However, I'm glad I listened to everyone and stuck with it. The second book is much better, feels less rushed (although there were portions I felt were glanced over and could have been explored more). This gives me a lot of hope and anticipation for the next book. Her writing is maturing and growing with each book so I am eager to see what the next story entails. I did read the excerpt from City of Glass on her website...looks really compelling!

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ARGH! I picked up the book the other day when I said I would, but I couldn't remember a lot of it. My *friend* has Bones, so I can't flip to it. I really need to refresh my memory. Now I'm super busy grading (posting on Lex). You guys can go ahead and discuss it if you like...without me.